He is alleged to have authored fictitious novels, which he self-published online and which included names of some of his actual victims and descriptions of similar crimes. The guy is suspected of murdering five people in a shooting rampage in Denver.
Officials from the Denver Police Department confirmed on Wednesday that the notes are part of their investigation into what motivated Lyndon James McLeod to carry out the shootings, which took place in less than an hour on Monday at a number of places around the metropolitan region.
According to authorities, McLeod, 47, was acquainted with the majority of the victims he shot via professional or personal contacts. Four of those who were killed were assaulted at tattoo parlours.
Character called Lyndon follows a poker party hosted by a character named “Michael Swinyard” in the first book, authored under the pen name Roman McClay, then obtains entrance to a building near Cheesman Park by acting as a police officer in the second novel. He then fatally murders everyone at the party and robs them before escaping in a van with his dog, which he later finds abandoned.
In the assault on Monday, Michael Swinyard, 67, was fatally shot at a residence near Denver’s Cheesman Park, according to authorities.
A victim is identified by McClay in his second book, which also has a character called Lyndon. Alicia Cardenas is mentioned in the narrative. In addition, the tattoo business she operated, Sol Tribe, is mentioned in the book.
Alicia Cardenas, a 44-year-old tattoo artist, was one among the first people to fall prey to his attack on Monday. She and another lady, Alyssa Gunn, 35, were slain inside their tattoo business, where they worked. According to authorities, a guy who was also injured in the incident is likely to live. Friends and customers recognised him as Gunn’s husband, James Maldonado, who worked as a piercer at the establishment.
That store is less than a mile (1.6 kilometres) away from a tattoo shop where McLeod was identified as the lease holder between 2014 and 2016, according to public records. According to municipal records, Cardenas eventually purchased the business and relocated it to its present location.
According to municipal records, McLeod was not permitted to work as a tattoo artist or to own and manage a tattoo shop in Denver, according to Eric Escudero, a representative for the city’s licencing bureau.
Cardenas, who has a 12-year-old daughter, characterised herself as a “proud Indigenous artist” who also paints murals in addition to her own work.
Major Crimes Division Commander Matt Clark said McLeod knew the most majority of the individuals he targeted, but he did not know the guy who was shot the final time, a staffer at an off-duty motel in Lakewood’s Belmar retail district. Clark, on the other hand, said that McLeod had some business contacts with the motel.
Steck received a bachelor’s degree in fine art in communication design from Metropolitan State University earlier this year. According to the Denver Post, she was well-known among her co-workers at the hotel for her contagious laugh and her enthusiasm for animals, art, and music.
The next day, shortly after the shooting at Cardenas’ store, McLeod made his way into a property that is also the location of a commercial enterprise. According to city records, it is licenced as a tattoo parlour. Although he tracked the intruders throughout the premises and fired firearms, no one was hurt, according to Clark. Then, according to Clark, he shot and murdered Swinyard in the vicinity of Cheesman Park.
In the aftermath of the gunshots, Denver police pursued a car thought to be involved in the shootings, and one officer engaged McLeod in gunfire, according to Clark. After shooting destroyed the officer’s vehicle, McLeod was able to run towards Lakewood, according to the cop who saw the incident.
The Lakewood Police Department received a complaint of bullets being fired at the Lucky 13 tattoo business just before 6 p.m. on Wednesday. According to Lakewood police spokesman John Romero, Danny Scofield, 38, was murdered in the incident.
The automobile suspected of being involved in the shooting was discovered by authorities in the Belmar retail district, which is a contemporary version of a downtown where businesses surround walkways, and McLeod opened fire, according to Romero. Officers returned fire, killing McLeod. He raced away and reportedly threatened several individuals at a restaurant with a revolver before heading to the Hyatt House hotel, where he talked briefly with Steck before killing her, according to him. He claimed that he shot Steck after speaking briefly with her at the Hyatt House hotel.
Lakewood police officer Ashley Ferris approached McLeod and asked him to down his handgun a minute or so after the first encounter. She was hit in the abdomen, but she responded by firing back, killing the assailant.
